


A night for adventure

by kaijuborn



Series: Young falcon [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Minor Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9122881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijuborn/pseuds/kaijuborn
Summary: It's late at night and Fareeha is bored at the Watchpoint. She likes to sneak around when everyone else has gone to bed, but most of the time she finds nothing interesting. This is not one of those times.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've really struggled with writing over the past month or so, but I managed to get this one out really quickly! (Two days!) It's a bit different from what I usually write, but I kind of like it :)

Fareeha turned on the lights in the room and marched straight over to the bed. The only thing visible there was a mop of brown shaggy hair sticking up from underneath the covers.

 

“Jesse”, Fareeha said, placing her hands on his torso and giving him a shake. He let out a groan, stirring slightly. “ _Jesse_. Wake up.”

 

Jesse let out another noise, which definitely sounded displeased. He moved a bit underneath the covers and his face became visible; his eyes were squinting at the harsh lights and he looked like he had been drooling a bit in his sleep.

 

“What?” he croaked. Fareeha gave him another shake, just for good measure. “Uhh… what time is it?”

 

“I don’t know”, Fareeha replied; that wasn’t relevant. “But look what I found!”

 

She held up the omnic part. It was clearly from one of the training bots they used around the base, but it seemed to have been tampered with. The part came from the bottom of a bot, close to where their hover device was, only someone appeared to have attempted to attach something to it. There were burn marks from welding and blow torches. She recognized it from the week she spent hanging around Torbjörn’s workshop, fascinated by his tools and weaponry.

 

“Where did you find that?” Jesse wondered, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Ever since he stopped shaving he had a little patch of hair underneath his lower lip which Fareeha thought looked ridiculous. 

 

“Around the back of the base.” Fareeha ran her fingers over the welding marks. “It looks like someone accidentally dropped it there.” 

 

“What were you doin’ there?” Jesse reached out to take the omnic part from her, frowning at it. Fareeha shrugged. 

 

“I was bored.”

 

Jesse looked up at her and then glanced out the window. Fareeha bit her lip. It was dark outside. Jesse sighed and reached for his communicator, letting out a little grunt.

 

“It’s half past one, shouldn’t you have been asleep like, five hours ago?”

 

“I’m not a kid!” Fareeha protested, which made Jesse laugh. 

 

“Yeah you are”, he said, reaching out to ruffle her hair, which only made her angrier. “Seriously though, your mom’s gonna kill me if I don’t get you to bed.”

 

“Mom’s not here”, Fareeha said, crossing her arms and looking away. “… She said she’d call and she never did.”

 

“Right”, Jesse said, nodding a little. He gave her a small smile. “Is that why you stayed up late? To wait for her call?”

 

“… Maybe”, Fareeha admitted, still not meeting his gaze. Jesse sighed and got up from bed. Fareeha had been in his room many times before, and it was always a mess, with clothes, weapons and ammunition scattered everywhere. Fareeha watched him wander over to the door to put on a pair of boots, along with a jacket over his standard Overwatch pajama. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m takin’ you back to your room. C’mon.” He made a gesture for her to follow. 

 

“But what about the omnic part?” Fareeha wondered. She walked over to Jesse to take it from him again. 

 

“What about it?”

 

“Someone’s been messing with it! Here, look. See the welding marks? It looks like someone tried to attach something to it.”

 

Jesse squinted at it.

 

“It’s probably jus’ Torby”, he said with a dismissive hand wave. “You know what he’s like.” He reached out to take the omnic part from her, but she pressed it to her chest. 

 

“No, it’s not. This isn’t the same welding wire he uses.”

 

Jesse raised his eyebrows at her. A moment later, he smirked. 

 

“And what do you know about that?”

 

“He showed me”, Fareeha said, stubbornly. “Someone else did this. I’m sure. And I found it at the back of the base. What would anyone be doing there unless they were trying to hide something?”

 

Jesse took a deep breath, scratching the back of his neck. He crouched down in front of Fareeha.

 

“Okay. So what do you think is going on?”

 

“I think someone’s building something. Something they’re trying to hide”, Fareeha explained. She could see the doubt in Jesse’s eyes. “ _Please_ , Jesse.”

 

“Yeah, alright, alright. No need to gimme those puppy dog eyes.” Jesse straightened up again. “I’ll tell Gabe tomorrow and we’ll have a look around, okay?”

 

“… Fine”, Fareeha conceded. Jesse smiled a little. 

 

“Now c’mon, I’ll walk you to your room.”

 

Still grumpy, Fareeha quietly followed Jesse out of his room and down the corridor. It was dark, well past midnight and Fareeha knew she should have been in bed hours ago. Still, she wasn’t tired. She liked being outside when it was dark and no one else was around. The Watchpoint felt different during those hours, like a mystery waiting to be solved.

 

A light further up ahead caught Fareeha’s attention.

 

“Angela’s awake!” she exclaimed, grinning. 

 

“Yeah, I bet”, Jesse said. He yawned. “Wanna go tell her to go to bed as well?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

The door to the med bay was unlocked, and inside the lights were only on over one of the desks. Angela was sitting hunched over, typing away at her laptop, a few coffee mugs surrounding her. She looked up as they came inside and gave them a weary smile.

 

“Hey”, she said. “Something wrong?”

 

“Naw, I was jus’ takin’ Fareeha to bed”, Jesse said. “You okay? You’re lookin’ a little tried there.”

 

“Oh, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Angela smiled a little toward Fareeha, who noticed the dark circles underneath her eyes. “What are you doing up this late?”

 

“I found this”, Fareeha said, holding out the omnic part toward her. She took it, turning it over and inspecting it. 

 

“Oh? What’s this?”

 

“I found it at the back of the base, you know, above those cliffs where the seagulls nest”, Fareeha quickly said. Jesse huffed. 

 

“Yeah, she thinks someone’s trying to build something and doing a poor job at hiding it”, he said. “I told her Gabe and I will go have a look tomorrow.”

 

“You sure this isn’t one of Torbjörn’s things?” Angela wondered. 

 

“I’m sure”, Fareeha said. “That’s not the welding wire he uses.”

 

Angela looked at her and gave her a small smile. Fareeha looked away, suddenly embarrassed.

 

“What were you doing at the back of the base this late, hm?” Angela wondered. “You know your mother wouldn’t like it.” Fareeha bit her lip and said nothing. Angela watched her for a moment before turning to Jesse. “… Maybe we should check it out, Jesse.”

 

Fareeha lit up, looking up at Angela again with a bright smile. Angela laughed a little.

 

“Do we have to?” Jesse complained. Even though Angela tried to hide it, Fareeha noticed the look she gave Jesse, which seemed to make him concede. “Oh, fine. I need a smoke anyway.”

 

“I thought you quit”, Angela said, raising an eyebrow toward him. Jesse looked very guilty. Angela sighed and logged out of her laptop before putting on a sweater over her blue scrubs. “Fareeha, aren’t you cold?”

 

“No. It’s warm outside.” She was wearing a nightgown with a sweater, and a pair of boots. “You’ll see, come on!”

 

Angela snickered and reached for Fareeha’s hand, taking it, which made Fareeha’s cheeks heat up.

 

“Lead the way”, Angela said. 

 

Fareeha nodded and went out from the med bay again, followed by Angela and Jesse. The latter was still yawning and dragging his feet, but had produced a lighter and a pack of cigarettes from his jacket. One look from Angela made him put away the lighter again, but he kept the unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

 

They went outside through one of the many exits, ending up near the helicopter and aircraft pads. There were a few parked there, looming dark shapes against the blue sky. The moon was out and reflected against the ocean; they could hear the vague sound of waves and the wind.

 

“You were right, Fareeha”, Angela said, taking a deep breath. “It’s nice outside.”

 

“So where did you find this omnic part?” Jesse wondered, letting his eyes sweep across the scenery. 

 

“Over here.”

 

Fareeha lead the way around one of the white and blue main buildings, still holding onto Angela’s hand. They passed by a security fence that had fallen over during a storm several weeks ago; no one had bothered to put it back up again. The building was close to the edge of the cliffs, but there was still a path wide enough that the three of them could walk next to each other comfortably. It was a long drop down into the water, though.

 

“I don’t think your mother would like you being out here”, Angela commented. “It’s pretty dangerous this close to the cliffs.”

 

“I’m always careful when I’m out here.”

 

“So you go here often then?” Jesse asked, smirking. He had managed to light his cigarette when Angela wasn’t looking, and it glowed softly in the darkness. 

 

“Not _that_ often”, Fareeha protested. Angela tightened her hold on Fareeha’s hand, making her stop. Fareeha didn’t want to meet her gaze; she knew what Angela was about to say. 

 

“You know I have to tell your mother you’ve been out here.”

 

Fareeha rolled her eyes with a sigh.

  
“It doesn’t matter.” She lowered her voice to a mumble. “She doesn’t care.”

 

“That is not true”, Angela said, crouching down in front of Fareeha. “Hey. Look at me.” Fareeha stubbornly looked everywhere but at Angela. “Your mother cares so much about you. It might be difficult to understand now but she only wants what’s –“

 

“Hey, there it is!” Fareeha interrupted her. She pointed over to a spot in the grass, which she had marked with a stone to remember where it was. Fareeha slid her hand from Angela’s and walked over to where she had found the omnic part, bending down to look at the spot. “There’s something here.”

 

Angela and Jesse came over to look as well. From her scrubs pockets, Angela pulled a pen flashlight; it wasn’t very strong, but it was enough. On the ground there were slick black spots, covering the gravel and the grass.

 

“Oil spill?” Jesse suggested.

 

“Looks like it”, Angela said. 

 

“That wasn’t there before.” Fareeha looked up at the other two. “I know it wasn’t.” She looked back at the oil. “Maybe whoever dropped the omnic part came back to find it.”

 

“There’s a trail”, Jesse pointed out. Angela moved her flashlight; the reflections in the oil made it easy to follow. It continued up ahead and disappeared around a cliff. “Should we follow it?”

 

“Yes!” Fareeha exclaimed, excited, but then lowered her voice again with a gasp. “It’s like a mystery.”

 

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation”, Angela said. She sounded weary. 

 

“Like what?” Jesse sounded slightly amused. “One of the mechanics is a sleepwalker and hauls around omnic parts in the middle of the night?”

 

“If there was a sleepwalker on the base I would know about it.” While Angela and Jesse bickered, Fareeha continued along the cliffs, following the trail of oil. “Fareeha, wait! Don’t go alone.”

 

The other two caught up to her, staying close as they continued walking. Angela kept her flashlight on, pointing it to the ground and following the oil spill. The path grew narrower, forcing them to walk in a line rather than side by side. Fareeha could tell Angela didn’t want her walking first, but she didn’t care. This was exciting. 

 

Even though it was getting pretty late now, she still wasn’t tired. The chilly ocean breeze and the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs below were invigorating, as was the mystery. Fareeha was often bored around the Watchpoint, and even if this really was nothing but a sleepwalking mechanic, it would still be the most exciting thing that had happened there in months. Not counting the time Torbjörn set fire to his own beard. 

 

They rounded a corner and came out onto a larger patch of gravel and grass, squeezed in between a couple of buildings with no windows looking out over it. Robot and omnic parts were strewn all over the area, making Fareeha draw in a sharp breath.

 

“Mein Gott…” Angela breathed, and Jesse let out a low whistle. 

 

Fareeha recognized parts from training bots, Torbjörn’s turrets and armor packs, sentry turrets of older and newer models, Bastion units, robot and omnic arms, legs, torsos, as well as various types of guns and cannons. Most of it was gleaming in the moonlight, though there were patches of dark red rust in places, suggesting the parts had been there a while.

 

“Well”, Jesse said. “I was not expecting that.”

 

A metallic noise made them all jump. Angela grabbed onto Fareeha’s shoulders, pulling her backward for safety. 

 

Fareeha soon spotted the source of the sound, and wordlessly pointed toward it. It was a lone target bot, looking beat up and missing a few parts and leaking oil, struggling to hover above its fallen comrades. It managed for a few seconds, then crashed down before floating upward again. Soon, it fell down on top of the others and went still with a sad little sound.

 

“The hell is this, some kind of robot graveyard?” Jesse said. He looked a bit nervous, which made Fareeha worried as well. She found Angela’s hand again and squeezed it for comfort. 

 

“That’s impossible”, Angela protested. She kept her voice low. “The training bots aren’t intelligent enough to do something like this unless they were programmed to. And who would do that? And why?”

 

“Maybe someone thought it would make a good prank”, Jesse suggested, but he didn’t sound very convinced of his own theory. 

 

“But this is all stuff Torby could use”, Fareeha pointed out. “This is the same kind of materials he recycles all the time.”

 

“His secret stash maybe?”

 

“Shh!” Angela suddenly shushed. “Did you hear that?”

 

The three of them fell quiet, standing perfectly still and listening to the wind and the ocean for a moment. Fareeha could hear something else as well, faintly at first but then louder and louder. It sounded like something heavy walking slowly, like Reinhardt when he was wearing his armor. There were smaller noises too, creaking and clinking, the sound of hydraulics and gears turning.

 

“Somethin’s comin’”, Jesse said, quietly. “There!”

 

He didn’t need to point it out. A huge, dark shape came lumbering from around a cliff. It was immediately obvious that it wasn’t human; it was taller than any of them and consisted of rectangular shapes and sharp corners. It didn’t seem very well built, though; one leg was shorter than the other and its torso appeared to be twisted, like someone had done a shoddy work at putting it all together.

 

“Come here, hide!” Jesse hissed, grabbing Fareeha and Angela and pulling them down behind a partially disassembled Bastion unit. They peeked out from behind it to get a better look at the metal giant. 

 

The majority of it seemed to be made out of old training bots; Fareeha recognized the yellow and black stripes, but instead of the body being white and red, it was white and blue. On what appeared to be its head, three yellow optic lenses glowed softly in the darkness, casting a vague beam of light wherever the giant looked.

 

Fareeha held her breath.

 

“What is that thing?” Angela whispered. 

 

The giant sharply turned its head toward them, the yellow search light suddenly much more intense and aimed directly at them. All three of them ducked behind the Bastion unit, and Angela hurried to turn off her flashlight. Fareeha felt as though her heart had stopped beating as she waited for the omnic to turn around again, and she squeezed Angela’s hand tightly. 

 

A moment that felt like an eternity passed, and then the light disappeared.

 

After another few seconds, they could hear the sound of the giant moving away again, disappearing the same way it had arrived, its steps slow and heavy. Fareeha, Angela and Jesse sat still and silent until they couldn’t hear the thumping footsteps anymore before they dared to breathe again.

 

“ _What the ever-lovin’ fuck was that thing?_ ” Jesse wheezed, peeking out over the Bastion unit to check that the coast was clear. 

 

“I don’t know”, Angela said, her voice trembling. Fareeha glanced up at her. Normally, she would have told Jesse off for using such language in front of her, and the fact that she didn’t made Fareeha worry. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

 

“It was like some kinda…” Jesse gestured vaguely, seemingly searching for a word. 

 

“Frankenstein omnic”, Fareeha said, standing up. “Frankenomnic! Like the zomnics in Reinhardt’s stories!”

 

“That’s just a story, Fareeha”, Angela said, though she sounded far from convinced. Fareeha ignored her and sneaked out from behind the Bastion, tip-toeing over to the broken down bots and omnics. “Anyway, we need to contact Gabriel. And we could probably use Torbjörn’s expertise as well. Jesse, your communicator?”

 

“What? I don’t have it. I thought I was puttin’ Fareeha to bed, not investigatin’ giant rogue omnics. Where’s _your_ communicator?”

 

Angela made an irritated noise.

 

“It’s on my desk. I know, I know –“

 

“Hey, look at this”, Fareeha cut in. She had plucked Angela’s flashlight from her pocket and was using it to investigate one of the training bots. “Someone’s been messing with this one. And this one. Look, they’ve all been altered the same way.”

 

“Fareeha, be careful”, Angela warned, but came over to look along with Jesse. “Where?”

 

“Here.”

 

Fareeha pointed it out to them. On the training bots’ heads, in the back, was a hole like someone had ripped off a piece of the metal. Wires and circuitry were sticking out, and it was clear that someone had been poking around inside their heads. 

 

“Looks like someone tried to cover up their work on this one”, Jesse said, turning over another bot to have a closer look at it. On that one, the hole in the back of the head had been covered with a mismatching piece of metal, welded in place. “… They didn’t do a very good job at it.”

 

“It looks like it was made by the same person who did this”, Fareeha said, holding out the omnic part. She was still carrying it around, even though she had nearly dropped it when the giant had appeared. “They’ve used the same welding wire.”

 

“So someone is tampering with the training bots… why?” Angela said, frowning. “I don’t understand. Why hasn’t Athena warned us about this? She knows everything that’s going on on the base.”

 

Jesse shrugged.

 

“Maybe whoever’s been messin’ with the bots have been messin’ with her as well.”

 

“No”, Angela said, determined. “I can understand that someone might be able to tinker with the training bots and alter their programming, but no one could ever do the same to Athena. If someone tried to mess with her we’d know about it.”

 

“Well, then…” Jesse shrugged again. “I dunno. Maybe she doesn’t see this as anythin’ strange. Maybe it’s all jus’ a bunch of trainin’ bots to her. Sure, they’re in a weird place, but so far they haven’t actually caused any damage, right?”

 

“Maybe someone is trying to do something with the big one, and the little ones are just an experiment?” Fareeha suggested. She had barely been listening to the others’ conversation. “You know, like Dr. Junkenstein.”

 

“Fareeha…” Angela begun, but trailed off at a familiar noise. 

 

It wasn’t the giant omnic returning; instead it was two regular size training bots that came hovering with a faint humming sound. Fareeha recognized the noise they made from the time she had spent at the practice range, watching her mother as well as Jesse, Gabriel and many others fight against the bots.

 

“Be careful”, Jesse warned. Angela _tsk_ -ed. 

 

“They’re still just training bots. They can’t attack us unless they’ve been given specific commands to –“

 

She let out a cry as one of the bots opened fire. Jesse immediately pushed her and Fareeha down onto the ground, behind the cover of a pile of robot and omnic parts. Sparks flew as the shots hit the metal, sending them bouncing off in bursts of blue and yellow. 

 

“What are they doing?!” Angela said, sounding slightly panicked. 

 

“Well, I dunno how to break this to you, but they’re shootin’ at us”, Jesse bit. He fumbled after something on the ground and Fareeha saw his hand close around a long piece of metal that probably used to be the barrel of a cannon. Fareeha reached out to grab him by the jacket. 

 

“Wait, what are you doing?” she demanded to know. Jesse gave her a little smirk. 

 

“Well, I can’t exactly ask a doctor and a kid to fight, so that leaves only one of us.”

 

“No, Jesse, _wait!_ ” Angela exclaimed, eyes wide. 

 

Jesse easily pulled himself from Fareeha’s grasp and scrambled to stand up straight, running out of cover with a speed she didn’t know he had. He easily dodged all the shots fired at him; the training bots were slow in comparison to him, and within the blink of an eye he was up close to them. Jesse ran around one of the bots, causing both of them to spin around and one of them to shoot the other. The bot let out a hurt noise, sparks sizzling and smoke rising, before falling down onto the ground. 

 

Raising the metal rod, Jesse swung it, hitting the other bot in the head so hard it popped clean off and sailed over the edge of the cliff. It disappeared into the darkness below, and after a moment they could hear a vague splash. The body jerked a little and then collapsed next to the first bot.

 

“You did it!” Fareeha yelled, bouncing up and grinning toward Jesse. He shot a pleased smile back at her. 

 

“Jesse, that was really reckless!” Angela burst out, standing up as well. Even from a distance, Fareeha could see Jesse roll his eyes. “Are you hurt?”

 

“Naw, I’m fine. Didn’t even get a scratch.” He swung the rod around a little, winking at Fareeha. After a beat, he turned around to look at the fallen bots on the ground. “Hey, this one’s got the same hole in its head as the other ones.”

 

“Okay”, Angela said with a stern voice that made Fareeha look up at her. “We need to leave. Like, right now.” 

 

All three of them froze as a bright yellow light focused on Jesse. Fareeha could hear the heavy footsteps of the giant again, and she could see the fear in Jesse’s lit up face. She reached for Angela again and their hands found each other.

 

“Shit”, Jesse whispered. “Angie, take Fareeha and run.”

 

“ _No!_ ” Fareeha protested, fear rising in her chest. 

 

“I’ll distract him, go!” Jesse yelled. 

 

The giant omnic lumbered forward toward him, raising a massive arm. Jesse just barely managed to roll out of the way before the giant brought down its arm, smashing it against the ground where Jesse had stood a moment earlier. Fareeha shrieked as the ground shook with the force of the impact.

 

Angela tightened her hold on Fareeha’s hand and pulled her into a jog, dragging her away from the giant and toward the path they had originally come from. It was nearly impossible to keep up a good pace; the ground was so littered with robot and omnic parts that they stumbled and slipped every other step. Still, Angela seemed determined to get Fareeha out of there and continued on, even when she lost her balance and injured her lower leg. 

 

Fareeha did her best to fight back, even though she knew Angela would probably hate her for it. They couldn’t just leave Jesse behind. Fareeha turned her head and watched as the giant raised its arm again and swept it out in front of itself. Jesse leaped backward and slipped on something, falling down on his ass with a grunt.

 

“ _No!_ ” Fareeha cried again and wrestled herself from Angela’s grip. 

 

“Fareeha, don’t!”

 

Fareeha did the only thing she could think to do; she had still been clutching the metal part that started this whole thing, and now she threw it with all her force at the omnic giant. It hit its shoulder with a  _clonk_ . 

 

“ _Hey!_ ” Fareeha yelled. She picked up another piece of metal from the ground and threw that as well. “Hey, you oversized toaster! Over here!”

 

The omnic slowly turned its head, its yellow search lights focusing on Fareeha instead. It began to turn around, and Fareeha felt a wave of relief that the distraction had worked, and at the same time a surge of terror. Behind the omnic, she could see Jesse scramble to get off the ground and put some distance between himself and the giant.

 

Angela suddenly pushed Fareeha out of the way and stepped forward, holding her head high despite the fear in her eyes. The omnic focused on Angela instead, the bright lights moving away from Fareeha.

 

“That’s right”, Angela said, voice trembling. “Follow me.”

 

Angela shuffled to the side, away from Fareeha, and the omnic followed her with its gaze, as if trying to figure her out. It took a halting step forward before another metal piece hit its head, making it stop.

 

It was Jesse who had thrown it this time, and the giant slowly turned around to face him again.

 

“He’s not the brightest bot of the bunch”, Jesse said, letting out a breathless laugh. The omnic started moving toward him, and Jesse backed off a little. “Fareeha, you need to get out of here. I’m serious. Your mom’s gonna kill us if somethin’ happens to you.”

 

“Go find Gabe, Fareeha”, Angela said, her voice still shrill with worry. She had picked up another robot part, clutching it desperately, waiting for the right moment to throw it. 

 

Fareeha watched the scene in front of her with tears stinging at her eyes. She didn’t want to go; she didn’t want to leave her two best friends. She had to  _do_ something. But she was so small and the omnic so big, what could she possibly do to make it stop?

 

She looked up at the giant, watching its dark outline against the blue night sky. A white spark caught her attention, like a falling star through the darkness. The omnic’s head was that of a training bot’s, ridiculously small for a giant so big, and now that it was turned away from her, Fareeha could see a hole in the back of it. Just like with all the other training bots; a couple of sparks sizzled from the hole, and Fareeha was pretty sure she could see some cables sticking out.

 

Without stopping to think about what she was about to do, Fareeha ran forward as quickly as she possibly could, heading toward the giant omnic.

 

“ _Fareeha!_ ” both Angela and Jesse yelled, the former’s voice a high pitched shriek and the latter’s broken with fear. 

 

Fareeha didn’t hesitate once she reached the omnic’s legs, instead she jumped up and caught onto a smooth metallic edge as her feet searched for something to put her weight on. Either the omnic didn’t notice her, or it just didn’t care, because it kept moving toward Jesse at a glacial pace. Fareeha’s feet found purchase and she pulled herself up.

 

The giant omnic was about three times taller than her, and even though it only took a few seconds to climb up to its shoulders, it still felt like an eternity. Every time the omnic took a step its body shook underneath her, and Angela and Jesse’s panicked voices didn’t exactly help.

 

Fareeha pulled herself up onto the giant’s shoulders. It finally seemed to realize something was climbing on it, and turned while raising its arms like it wanted to grab her and throw her off.

 

Taking a deep breath, Fareeha jammed her hand inside the hole in the bot’s head, grabbing a fistful of cables and circuitry. Sparks of electricity made her fingers jerk and tingle. She let out a grunt and then a cry as she pulled back her hand again, ripping out the wires as she went. 

 

The giant omnic’s body trembled underneath her, its yellow lights flickering for a moment before going out. The omnic took a couple of jerky steps forward, before it slowly sunk down onto one knee. Fareeha let out a shriek as the omnic toppled over and clung on for dear life as it collapsed on the ground. She lost her grip and fell off, landing on something hard that made her yelp. She rolled down onto the ground, head spinning and body aching all over. 

 

A split second later, Angela was by her side, kneeling down.

 

“Fareeha, can you hear me?” she wondered, voice still shaking. Fareeha felt Angela’s cold fingers against her neck, checking for a pulse. “Fareeha?”

 

“Mmyeah”, Fareeha managed, groaning and trying to turn over. 

 

“Don’t move, you might be injured. Where does it hurt?”

 

“Everywhere”, Fareeha whined. She could hear Jesse let out a breathless laugh. 

 

“Yeah, no wonder with that stunt you pulled. Your mom teach you how to do that?” Jesse wondered. Despite everything, Fareeha could help but smile. She could hear Jesse kneel down next to her as well, and a moment later he brushed away the hair from her face. She looked up at Jesse and Angela’s worried faces, but she could see their relief when she smiled at them. “Hey there.”

 

“Hey.”

 

Fareeha was forced to lay still for a moment while Angela checked that she hadn’t broken anything or gotten a concussion. Fareeha had gotten some bruises and minor cuts, and a couple of burn marks on her hand, but other than that she was fine. Jesse pulled out another cigarette and lit it with trembling hands, taking deep breaths. 

 

Finally, Fareeha was allowed to sit up.

 

“There”, Angela said. “Feeling okay?”

 

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

 

Fareeha looked over at the fallen giant. It was completely still, though the hole in its head was still sparking.

 

A noise like a radio crackling made them all jump.

 

“… McCree? Doctor Ziegler? … respond.”

 

“Athena?” Fareeha said, surprised. 

 

“… Amari?” Athena’s voice said. It came from somewhere nearby. Jesse bent down and dug through a pile of junk until he managed to fish out an old radio. It was mostly emitting static, but when Jesse held it up above his head the reception seemed to get better. 

 

“This is agent McCree here”, he said. 

 

“Is Doctor Ziegler and Miss Amari with you?” Athena wondered. “I have been… contact you for the past few… without success.”

 

“Yeah, we’re here. We don’t have our communicators, though.”

 

“My sensors reported unauthorized training bot activity… your positions. What’s your…?” The radio crackled again, and Jesse smiled a little. 

 

“Could you call agent Reyes and agent Lindholm over here? They need to see this.”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

A few long minutes passed, during which the three of them managed to catch their breaths. Jesse smoked another cigarette, Angela inspected the small cut she had gotten on her lower leg, and Fareeha looked around the giant omnic. Her whole body was still pumping with adrenaline from the fight, and she still couldn’t believe what she had done.

 

A flashlight made them look up.

 

“The hell is going on here? What’s all this?” Gabriel asked. He had two other agents with him, both armed and ready for combat, while Gabriel was still in his pajama, though he was holding a handgun. He stared at the mess of robot and omnic parts. “McCree. What have you done?”

 

“Geez, thanks. Gotta love how you assume it was me”, Jesse said, grumpily. Fareeha snickered. 

 

“Hey kid”, Gabriel said to Fareeha, holstering his gun. “You okay?” She nodded. “So, what’s all this?”

 

Angela haltingly begun telling him about what had happened. Torbjörn showed up after a couple of minutes, forcing her to start over. Angela still seemed a bit upset, and when Fareeha reached for her hand it was trembling slightly. Halfway through the story, Torbjörn walked over to the giant omnic, flashlight in one hand and hammer in the other, inspecting it thoroughly.

 

Once Angela was finished, Torbjörn spoke up.

 

“This isn’t one of the regular training bots. It’s one of the new ones. See?” He tapped the bot’s head. “It’s blue, not red.”

 

“The ones you decommissioned a few weeks ago?” Gabriel asked, frowning. 

 

“Yep. You know why? Their AI was too good.”

 

“Their AI was too good”, Jesse repeated, slowly. 

 

“Look”, Torbjörn said, with the tone of someone who had been forced to explain the same thing many times over. “The regular training bots were made to be a bit of a challenge against regular soldiers. Overwatch isn’t made of regular soldiers. People were starting to complain that the training bots were too easy to fight, and they wanted a bigger challenge.”

 

“So you ordered the new bots”, Gabriel said. 

 

“Yeah. I inspected them myself and came to the conclusion that we should try ‘em out. We did, and even more complaints started coming in. The AI was too good, according to the agents. Instead of accepting defeat and allowing themselves to be repaired like the old ones, the new bots would run away and hide, attempting to repair themselves even though they didn’t have any means of doing so.” Torbjörn held out the flashlight for Fareeha. “Hold this, please. Here, look.”

 

Everyone gathered around the fallen omnic.

 

“This one has gotten a blow to the head, which is probably what made it freak out and run away to begin with. But look at this, someone or something has tried to tamper with it afterward. Probably tried to fix it. And all this other bots have the same hole in the head.”

 

“Can you tell who did it?” Gabriel asked. Torbjörn drew in a deep breath and took the flashlight from Fareeha again. 

 

“My guess is… well, the bots did it.”

 

“Oh, come on, Torby”, Jesse said. 

 

“I’m serious!” Torbjörn persisted. “I’m thinking this wasn’t the only new bot that escaped. There are probably more around, and they have probably tried to repair each other since they can’t repair themselves. And I’m guessing they thought it was a good idea to hoard scrap in case they would need it.”

 

“And tamper with the old bots as well?” Fareeha suggested, watching Torbjörn with wide eyes. 

 

“And tamper with the – _exactly_ ”, he agreed. “To make more allies.”

 

“But why make a Frankenomnic?” Fareeha wondered, which made both Torbjörn and Gabriel chuckle, before the former shrugged.

 

“Better chance of survival. That’s one of their strongest instincts, after all. Survive.”

 

“Alright”, Gabriel said, taking out his communicator. He called in another couple of agents and then turned to the two men he had brought. “Once backup arrives I want you to sweep the area and look for more bots. Shoot them if you find any. And make sure they don’t get away.”

 

“Yessir.”

 

“And Torbjörn, ask the other mechanics tomorrow to help you haul the, uh, _Frankenomnic_ to your workshop. I want a full diagnosis on it, and the other bots lying around here.”

 

“You got it”, Torbjörn said, nodding. 

 

“Fareeha”, Gabriel said, turning to Fareeha. “You did really good, even though you should’ve run away. You know what you did was really dangerous, right?” She nodded. “And you know you shouldn’t do it again?” She nodded again, and Gabriel smiled. “Alright. Maybe it’s best we don’t tell your mom about this, huh? Now, c’mon. Let’s get you to bed.”

 

“Okay”, Fareeha agreed, suddenly feeling exhausted. She walked over to Gabriel and he surprised her by picking her up; he used to do that a lot when she was younger, but not as much anymore. Still, it made her giggle. 

 

“Jesse, Angela, you’re coming too”, Gabriel said, still smiling. “You look like you could all use a good night’s sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3
> 
> You can follow me on tumblr for updates and stuff! http://kaijuborn.tumblr.com/


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